Tales of an Imperial Officer 2
by Ckyblaze
Summary: The Surprise - The story of Admiral Impetus Cky continues, this time on a new ship, with a new crew... Including Line Captain Jerjerrod! The ship is sent to investigate disappearances in the Outer Rim system of Arkanis, but everything is not as it looks..


**Prologue:** Impetus walked up on his new bridge, holding his black helmet under his arm. It was half-empty and nobody really cared as he entered, not that anyone knew who he was. How could they? He hadn't even announced that he was onboard the ship at all!

Over by the window stood an officer, looking down on the busy surface of Coruscant. Impetus assumed it was Jerjerrod, the Line Captain that Impetus had picked himself. It was such a pity that he could not choose his second in command, still he understood that the government had to have someone onboard that could report back to them. If they would allow Impetus to pick all his crew members, he could basically defect as soon as they left orbit. They didn't want that to happen, so they had assigned Colonel/Commodore Stunn to Impetus. He was older than Impetus and had never really made it up to the higher ranks in the Navy, but he sure could talk… Impetus was relived he was nowhere to be seen.

Jerjerrod hardly seemed to notice that Impetus had walked in until he approached the window. The man had short brown hair, as most other humans that served in the Imperial Navy and his eyes were a pale green colour, maybe mixed with some brown, Impetus didn't have time to see before Jerjerrod turned to him and curiously overlooked him.

"What are you doing here?" He asked with something that looked like a small smile on his face. "Are you lost?"

"Oh, no… not at all!" Impetus said. "Just checking out my new ship, last one got blown apart…"

"Oh!" Jerjerrod said. "So you were on the… Typhoon, right? Did they get any of you out of there?"

"Some." Impetus answered.

"Well, anyway, welcome on board. I'm Captain Jerjerrod. Nice to meet you." Jerjerrod reached forth a hand.

"Nice to meet you too, my name is Impetus." They shook hands.

"So, what do you do?" Jerjerrod asked and looked out again. Impetus followed his glance and looked down on the surface. The view was amazing. "I… pilot ships. Big ships. And you are quite comfortable here on the bridge I see?"

"Oh yes… my first time actually. I got transferred from…" The door to the bridge opened and Jerjerrod looked over, falling silent and losing a shade of colour from his face. Impetus looked the same way, seeing a tall elderly man enter the bridge. He seemed to have a sour look on his face. "Colonel Stunn…" Jerjerrod whispered without moving his mouth. Stunn walked up to them.

"Captain, what are you doing?" He asked in a tone that wasn't friendly. "Get back to work immediately!" He glanced at Impetus then back to Jerjerrod. "Yes, sir." He glanced at Impetus and gave him a – I'm sorry I can't do anything about it – look. He walked away to a panel farther away. Stunn turned to Impetus, looking like he was going to eat him.

"And what are you doing here?!?!" This is the BRIDGE! You aren't allowed to be here!"

"Oh I am. I have every right to be here!" Impetus said.

"What??? Get out of here before I call on the guards!" Impetus noticed Jerjerrod looking up, but he turned his gaze down quickly.

"You don't even know who I am! How can give me orders then?" Impetus barked back.

"I don't care! This is my bridge!" Stunn yelled at Impetus. "Guards, get this man out of here!" The two guards at the door approached Impetus and grabbed him. And before he knew it Stunn gave him a bash over his face with his fist. The guards threw Impetus out into the hallway and put one boot up his stomach before leaving him on the floor, coughing. Impetus decided that it was better to walk away before that imbecile put him up into arrest, making everyone wonder where the Admiral went.

He got up and dried his face, not that it had been so hurtful, the old man barely had any strength left in his arms anyway. After making it down to the hangar bay again he got his small tub-bag from the baggage compartment and went into the locker room to change. At first the other pilots did not take much notice of him, but when the jacket with the two by six squared admiral's badge became visible, they all paled to insignificance. Impetus did not care about them but washed his face to refresh himself. He had got a slight split in his lip, and it was visible, but that would not keep him from doing his job.

About one hour later it was officially announced that the Commander of the ship, that would be Impetus, had arrived. Most of the duty officers just continued to work regularly, but all the heads of the different departments had been asked to come to a conference room that was called the "uppership lounge". Impetus found himself walking through a wide corridor on the east side of the ship; if he had understood things properly there were two main hallways and a thousand smaller ones. This one spanned all the way to the elevator plaza where there were a dozen big elevators and many more smaller ones, ready to take you to any sublevel you wanted and had access to. He stepped into one of the smaller ones and found himself going up quite a few levels before he arrived at the lounge.

It was situated on the back of the command bridge with a wonderful view of Coruscant and the neighbouring space. In the middle was a typical oblong conference table and black armchairs. They had been recently installed by the looks of things. Some of the officers were already here, looking down on the planet or just talking to each other. Impetus had chosen them all, but only by their merits and education, he had never learned their names. Some of them nodded as he passed them on their way to the window. Well there, he tapped Jerjerrod, who was already here, on the shoulder. He turned.

"Oh hello, are you also waiting for...." He had the time to say before his eyes accidentally lowered themselves to the rank badge. His eyes went wide and for a moment he just stood there as a robot that processed slowly. "Sir!" He added.

"Yes, Captain. We surprise ourselves sometimes... We should wait for the other officers before starting." Jerjerrod nodded slowly, still pale as a sheet. While they waited, Impetus walked around trying to remember all the faces and where they belonged, he would take the names later. The first officer that actually came up to him was a tall man, half a head taller than Impetus. Underneath the grey cap his head was nearly bald, but his eyes noticed everything in the room… so did Impetus'.

"Sir!" He said and saluted. "I am Ja'k Toll, Chief Officer of Trade."

"You are to make sure money get around?" Toll grinned ever so slightly.

"Around yes, build up a capital so we can enhance the ship… and everything else that involves credits and trading. The ship's personal bankier…" Impetus gave an approving nod and he backed away. The next two persons that walked up to Impetus were both female. Now that would be almost impossible on any other major Destroyer, but Impetus had never cared much for that, as he wanted the best crew, not he richest. Maybe someone onboard did not approve, but then he did not care much about that either unless it caused direct trouble. They both saluted quickly and Impetus responded. The woman to the left began speaking.

"I am Marik Halda, Chief Officer of Internal Affairs and Staff, pleased to meet you." She had her blonde hair in a knot under the cap from which her yellow-blue eyes looked up on him.

"And I am Sess Gliancor, you can call me Sess. I will supervise the Surprise's offence and defence." She also had blonde hair, but it was short cut and her eyes were grey. She was also much sturdier than her friend Halda.

"Sess and Halda, wonderful to have such competent and beautiful women on board!" Impetus said while giving off his best vibes, or at least he thought so. Even the sturdy Sess could not keep herself from flushing by the surprise of such a comment. Some of the officers glanced at Impetus, but he did not care.

There was only one more officer left, he was standing in one of the corners of the room, and when he saw that everyone was already introduced he slowly walked over to Impetus. The form he wore was different from the other's grey, being of a black colour. Underneath the black cap were a pair of unemotional grey-blue eyes and reddish stubble of hair.

"Commander." He said and nodded, keeping his hand behind his back.

"You must be… Simon Simoon, if I am not mistaken, which I'm not." Simon nodded his head.

"I am your new Chief Officer of Security, sir. Very exciting to finally meet the one that broke out single handed from a Rebel base!"

"A piece of cake."

"We must meet so that I may ask you some about it; such a feat is most remarkable for such a person as yourself." Impetus nodded.

"You have been reading a lot in the files on the officers, have you not?"

"I sure have sir, but I will leave you alone for now." He bowed slightly and returned to his place in the corner. _A most remarkable person._ Thought Impetus.

Some time passed while Impetus got himself a glass of juice from one of the machines available in the comfortably cooled room. On the flask, which was recyclable, stood that the juice was made from the ship's own fruits. Impetus kept looking at it for a while and then sat own in one of the armchairs. It was comfortable and soft, making him sink down even further into it. He looked up and was surprised to see that the ceiling was actually what seemed to be hardened diamond or maybe even tougher glass-like structure. He bent backwards while examining the different constellations. They reminded him of when he had been sitting on the many different skyscrapers on Coruscant, looking up into the sky at warm summer nights. It was as if a lifetime ago, but he knew it had only been slightly over twenty years since he had been sitting down there, trying to forget his hunger. It was awfully strange to sit here drinking Surprise Juice, knowing what a winding road it had been to come to this position. He found himself running his fingers along the two almost invisible scars on his right temple. At that time, the door opened once more.

Impetus heaved himself up from the comfortable position looking in the direction of the door. In it stood and astoundingly fair lady, wearing the white doctor's robes. He looked around, and every male in the room seemed to look at her as well. Even Simoon glanced from his position in the back. Soon, they returned to what they were doing. Impetus on the other hand waited until she came over to him, watching her blonde bob-cut swing along her neck as she walked. Finding himself almost staring he straightened while saluting. His eyes caught her brown.

"Sir, I am Doctor Xalii, of the Reed. I have been supervising the health checks with my assistants on our crew from the moment there was human life onboard." She looked at him once again, as if scanning his face.

"Charming…" He said and gently brushed her hand with his lips, never taking his eyes from hers. Her face turned red, if only for a minute. Impetus bid her to sit down and then sunk down as well, drinking some more of the juice.

"Permission to speak freely, sir." She said.

"Granted." He returned.

"Are you Admiral Cky, really?"

"I certainly am."

"I thought that Admirals only came in the ages over thirty five." She said.

"And you are right doctor, I got promoted to Admiral when I was thirty five, but that was four years ago."

"No… really? You… look well for your…age, Admiral." She took his hand and pulled out a small device from her pocket. "May I?" He nodded. A small sting told him the device had taken some cells to analyze, probably blood. "It should not… hurt." She said and watched as the small dot disappeared from his finger. The she looked at her pad that she had brought with her. For a moment she just sat. Then she bent over to him. "What are you?" She asked.

"Your commander… nothing more… yet." He grinned and relaxed.

He tried to keep his eyes from wandering over to Xalii for the next few minutes, but then noticed that Stunn had made his way into the lounge. Impetus rose and straightened his form. The others did not seem to take notice about another officer coming and Stunn did not seem to recognize him first. He met him half way through the room.

"Commodore Stunn." Said Impetus with such a cool voice that it could have frozen water. Stunn looked at his face looking confused. Impetus took off his cap and did not bother when his fringe fell down his forehead. The touched his split lip in a small gesture. One could think that the temperature had fallen well below freezing point judging by the shade of Stunn's face. He obviously found no words. Impetus continued to look at him, then bent forward slightly, looking up into the man's face.

"I'll put up with you because my superiors told me to." He whispered. After that he turned, walking away to the comfortable armchair he had been sitting in. He put his head into his palm while turning to Jerjerrod, who had sat down opposite of him.

"Which high officers have not yet arrived?" He asked.

"Only two more." Said Jerjerrod and fumbled with something that looked like a strange earpiece. He put it over his left ear and it automatically fit to his ear, making it almost invisible as it changed to match the skin colour. "They are on their way here now, sir." He said.

"What do you have there?" Asked Impetus.

"It came out of the wall in my study; I bet you have the same thing at your quarters." Impetus nodded and was about to ask how something could come out of the wall when the door opened once again. In came two persons, it was obvious they had been running as they were both sweaty and bent double because of the lack of oxygen.

"Chief Officers… of Maintenance… and Science reporting for… duty… sir" One of them managed to get out before they both fell into the armchairs.

"We found a new compartment, sir!" Said the other. He wore a grey technician overall that was covered in some oil spots and a strange dark-green substance, his protection goggles were hanging from his neck. Otherwise he had pale brown hair and some diffuse dark colour to his eyes.

"Let me introduce myself…" said the scientist. He wore the same robe as Xalii, but it was also stained with green spots. Impetus noticed that he was not human but Chiss, meaning his skin was blue and eyes shining red. "I am Enn'igma, and this…" he took a breath, "…this is Mr. Wizard with everything technical, Harold Frii!" They both saluted.

"What kind of compartment?" Asked Impetus.

"Totally unknown! It's… a jungle in there, literally! I think it spans along the countless unused tunnels in this ship"

"VERY exciting!" Added Enn'igma.

"Then, shall we get on with things?" Asked Impetus and bid everyone to sit down. "Welcome as crew to the ISD Surprise!"

**I.**

"Captain!" The transport officer called out from the right. "Everyone's on board! The Surprise is ready to depart." Impetus nodded and looked out through the window and onto the orbiting station to which the ship was attached. He turned to Jerjerrod who stood to his right, also observing the scene.

"Give the order to disembark, Captain." Impetus said and looked on the screens once again, making sure that everything was in order. Jerjerrod, who had recently been promoted to Captain of the Line or simply Line Captain, echoed his orders onto the bridge.

The Surprise was a very special ship. That was something Impetus had learned as he had read trough the thousand-thirty-two pages of relevant technical information about it just before he arrived. He had handed a copy to Jerjerrod and Stunn as well, just to see if they would read it. The last thing he had heard was that Jerjerrod was somewhere half-way trough it. It was not a new ship, and it sure could be seen on the slightly more round architecture inside and the form of the hull on the outside.

Instead of the typical arrowhead shape like most Imperial _I -_ Star Destroyers had, it was slightly smaller but it was faster. Due to the lack of food synthesizers onboard, it was not a very efficient ship if you counted the space. Far too much space went to the kitchens and many of the old compartments had not been renovated, as there had not been enough time for it. Adding to that the corridors were usually lit with strong lamps during daytime and dimmer ones during the night, as if to simulate day and night. The technicians on the Kuat Driveyards had not been able to fix that, and that had resulted into a day and night shift onboard with rotating schedules. It had been easier on the Typhoon, where there had been day all the time. Suddenly the crew needed to sleep half their day away!

Impetus smirked and leaned on the railing to be able to see the ship being released from the orbital station, it would take a couple of minutes with all the cables and docking facilities.

"Commander?" Someone asked behind his back. Impetus turned his head and looked on a Lieutenant.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Requesting permission to watch." The Lieutenant said.

"Granted." Impetus said and let his attention return to the view. Some of the personnel on the bridge came up and watched too.

Minutes later the last cables were "popping off" as someone in the crew had put it, and Impetus ordered everyone back to their stations.

"Engines on, one third hyper-speed." He ordered and turned to Stunn who had entered the bridge a moment ago. He was looking older than normal. "Everything in order?" Impetus asked while he slowly walked down the bridge towards the two big doors that lead to the main hall.

"So far yes, sir." He said

"Good…" Impetus turned to the man at the rudder. "Give us an outer-planetary orbit, Ensign."

"Sir!" He replied and pushed in some coordinates on the holo-board and took the rudder in one hand.

Impetus had never known any big starship with a rudder before, as it was far too risky to lay the responsibility on the human factor, still Impetus thought of it better than any computer. _Computers do not have intuition, humans have. _He turned to Stunn again.

"Take over the bridge; I must go to look at our new orders. I'll be back in the "morning"." Stunn nodded and turned, heading up to the 180 window. Impetus walked out and to his quarters.

It was morning onboard the Imperial Stardestroyer Surprise. The shifts had been changed a half an hour ago, and now the corridors were empty except for some people that walked somewhere on duty. The dim blue lights were also changing into brighter white-yellow, but it was still a little bit gloomy in the halls.

Impetus was jogging up the west central corridor towards the bridge in a relaxed manner, reading the newly arrived orders from the Imperial Command on his headset. It was connected to the interlink system of the ship, meaning he could read it anywhere he wanted. Reading reports while exercising was something he enjoyed. The text simply appeared in front of his left eye, and he could read it when he had the time to.

When he got up to the bridge doors, he was about to turn right and run down the east central corridor to conclude his three kilometre run when Stunn came out from the bridge. He looked surprised at first, but then his face returned to the neutral tone he always wore.

"Going to bed, Commodore?" Impetus asked and stopped, drying sweat from his forehead with his arm.

"Yes, sir. Captain Jerjerrod just arrived, so I decided to retreat for the day." Stunn said and saluted. Impetus answered him, then turned and started jogging again.

---

Jerjerrod sat and looked out on the Obo Rin cometary cluster outside the window. It was at the end of the Coruscant system and they could practically go anywhere from here. They just needed some new order on what to do. He polished his new four by two squared rank badge and put it back onto the form. It seemed to him quite strange that he would have his own seat on the bridge, but both Admiral Cky and Commodore Stunn has their own, so he didn't complain.

This bridge was strange with its trenches much wider than normal and the strange holo-programs he had in his seat. To make things easy, it could be explained that all personnel with touch screens sat on the upper level and the ones with holo-programs on the lower, with exception to the commanders of course. This whole ship was bizarre in a way, with new Imperial technology mixed in between the old human technology. _Or was it ancient? _Jerjerrod didn't really know, but it sure looked like it. He wondered where they had found this ship in the first place!

A small _ping!_ made Jerjerrod aware of someone entering the bridge. He rose and turned, seeing Cky entering the bridge.

"Everything quiet on the bridge, Admiral." He said.

"It won't be for long, Captain. We are moving out of this system." Cky replied and walked up to the big window and opened a holo-map of the galaxy. "I'm taking over the bridge." He plotted some coordinates.

"The bridge is yours, Admiral." Jerjerrod responded.

"Captain, take us to coordinates 233 – 758.0239, the Arkanis system." Cky said. Jerjerrod moved to the man at the rudder

"233 – 758.0239, got it?" The man nodded and confirmed the plotted course. Jerjerrod walked over to Cky again. "Why are we going to the Outer Rim?" Cky turned from the map, his green eyes coldly looking into Jerjerrod's.

"The Vensenor Flight Academy is in some kind of trouble… I don't know so much more."

"Well see when we get there?" Jerjerrod asked and waited for Cky to sit down before he too sat down into his seat. It was to the left of Cky's.

"I have sent the report over. Read it, then ask questions." Jerjerrod nodded. "Yes, sir." _Was it already there?_ He turned to his computer to his right and opened the file already sent to him. "Oh, it's already here." He mumbled and twisted his hand somewhat in the air, as if playing air-piano, opening the document.

"Yes, I mailed it to you when I was out jogging." Jerjerrod turned his head somewhat, glancing at the Admiral. He was also doing something on his display. _How had he been able to hear that?_ Jerjerrod looked around to see if anyone else noticed this strange occurrence. Nobody cared. He looked up at the window again, and waited for the ship to enter hyperspace until he leaned back and began reading.

START

F: Imperial High Command

T: Admiral Impetus Cky, Commander of the ISD SURPRISE

SECURITY CODE VERIFIED – DOCUMENT DECODED

URGENT

O: Head to the coordinates 233 – 758.0239.

[Outer Rim, Arkanis sector, Arkanis system, Arkanis.]

Contact Sector Governor Moff Alexander Julstan upon arrival.

Medium sized attacks against the Venesor Flight Academy by unknown pirates/bandits.

END

Jerjerrod had never heard about any Moff Julstan, nor had he been so far out in the Outer Rim. He let his eyes glide over the bridge again, and his eyes stuck on a group of crewmembers, most probably astrogators and astrographers. They were chatting quite loudly, far too loud for their own good. He cast a gaze at Cky. He gave a small nod. Jerjerrod got up and turned.

"Keep it down! Or you'll get to work double shifts tonight!" He barked at them. A pleasant silence spread over the bridge. He gave up a small grin and turned to the window again. He walked up to the window and fell into deep thoughts.

II.

As they jumped into hyperspace Impetus got a small message to his private mailbox on the interholo-net of the ship. He was still fumbling with the controls of the holographic equipment, but it was enormously space reducing, so he had to learn it. He sat for a moment and then waved some with his hand on the different symbols that always appeared as he sat down into the seat on the commander's bridge. After some searching he finally found a symbol that resembled a small envelope in a round bubble. Marking it he finally found the mailbox. Then he realized how smart it was to mark functions with symbols instead of words, as languages differed throughout the galaxy, but most basic items remained the same, as mail. Not that anyone used envelopes anymore, only for formal purposes maybe.

He sighed ever so slightly and opened the letter, which was a small recorded video anyway. It was from Xalii, informing him that even though he was the captain of the ship, he still needed a medical check up. He rose from the seat and turned to Jerjerrod who looked like he was somewhere far away.

"Captain, you have the bridge." Impetus said as Jerjerrod looked up on him.

"Yes sir." He said and continued looking outside. Impetus walked down the middle bridge over the trench towards the doors. Everyone was working more or less, and that was good.

Well by the elevators he took one down to the science and medical parts of the ship and exited. It was on middleship deck with white halls and bluish tones imprinted here and there on the floor and walls. Everything was clean, as it should be. They had spent almost a fortune on replacing the old absorbance floors with new and better ones!

Impetus started walking down to the right, trying to peer into the science department to his left. They had windows along the wall, so one could see the many transparent cube-rooms of the different science departments. There were a dozen scientists in view, all working like hamsters. And they obviously enjoyed themselves, by the look of their faces. Impetus caught sight of something blue behind the glass and then Enn'igma appeared through an automatic door.

"Admiral, sir!" He said and smiled a big smile. His coat was full of green spots, just as the last time.

"Yes doctor?"

"I think we have discovered something very important about the ship. Let me show you!" He waved around a little with his hands and a holographic image appeared in front of them. "This technology is amazing!" He exclaimed before rotating the image. It was a green something, probably molecular. "This is our way to self sustaining!" Enn'igma said, obviously very, very happy.

"And how is that?" Asked Impetus.

"By using this as a fertilizer, our experimental crops grow five times as fast. I think the primes used this as well. Very, very efficient and non-harming to any human living organism!"

"You mean we can attain complete independence from Imperial suppliers?"

"I think so sir; it is only material things that need to be shipped in… if we need them. I have calculated it would save both credits and time if we grew the clothes and stuff ourselves."

"You want to grow clothes?" Asked Impetus, slightly confused. Still he did not show it.

"I believe that it is possible with the recourses on board, and of course we would save millions just by growing all our crops ourselves."

"You are certain of this, doctor?"

"We have tested everything over a thousand times over; there is no harm from it."

"Then you should contact Toll at the Trading department. He will most gladly take care of the matter for you, if you excuse me." Impetus said and continued walking down the hallway. Enn'igma's red eyes looked after him for a second or two, and then he set off towards the elevator going up. Impetus continued to the health office and was shown into a room with white floor and walls. In the middle was a small examination bed and around it stood various medical apparatus and screens.

"The doctor will be with you soon." The nurse said. Impetus gave a small nod of approval and watched the door close. The room was small and there was not much to do in it, so Impetus sat down on the bed, leaning his head into his palms. A little while later Xalii opened the door and entered, closing it behind herself again. Impetus got up from his half slumbering whilst standing down on the floor.

"Good morning." She said and put down the pad she had brought with herself on one of the small tables.

"Doctor Xalii." He said.

"There is not much of a public medical record about you, Admiral." She said.

"Call me Impetus." He said. "Admiral is too formal for a small medical room."

"Well then, Impetus, please take off your jacket. The code cylinders disturb my equipment."

"That is the only reason? I'm disappointed." He said and pulled his jacket off, sitting down again with only his typical sleeveless undershirt on. Xalii looked on him while she pulled out a small scanner.

"Are you implying something?" She asked smiling a little, but then she turned serious while continuing scanning his body. "Just a question, after I analyzed your blood, it said that you… well… you are supposed to be seven centimetres longer than you are… Do you know why?" She asked, almost cautious.

"Well, let's just say that it is hard to grow without food." He said.

"Oh." She responded and fell quiet. Five minutes later she was done with all her small tests. "There is only one thing left, just to check your muscle tension; space travel tends to affect some people…"

"What would you want me to do?" He asked, People always underestimated him in this moment.

"Just bash your fist as hard you can into that panel in the wall, I know it hurts but you're a man aren't you?" She smiled cynically. He gave her a half-poisonous smile in return while walking up to the panel.

"Do I really have to do this?" He asked.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of, captain."

"As hard as I can?"

"As hard as you can…" She answered and crossed her arms. Impetus returned his focus to the panel. He straightened his fist so he would not break it and then flung his fist straight at the panel as hard as he could. A _crisshh!_ could be heard and the panel first cracked in the middle, the crack rippling out towards the edges, and then it fell out of the wall down on the white flood. He looked over at Xalii. She was just looking on the panel on the floor. Impetus smirked at her while walking over to his jacket. He put it on and then put a palm on her shoulder, as if wanting to comfort her.

"Ask maintenance about replacing that panel." He said. She was still stunned. "Can I go?" He asked.

"Yes…" She said. "I'll return with the… results." He nodded and took his leave.

III.

Jerjerrod stood on the upper bridge, watching the hyperspace lines flowing past him like ripples on water. They would soon arrive at the Arkanis system, and go to work, for real. They had got a sub-space transmission from Moff Julstan explaining the problems that the base was experiencing. Obviously four of their TIE fighters had disappeared from the radar never to return, and several large transports of supplies that had come through the system had been "hijacked" and never seen of again. All this had happened in the proximity of the asteroid belt that enveloped the system. Beyond the asteroids were only gas giants that were too poor to be mined or settled. Cky had told him the section beyond the asteroid field had never been explored thoroughly.

He was uncertain why, but he somehow knew that Cky would venture past that field, one way or another. While he stood thinking about what to expect, he did not notice how Cky had entered the bridge. Surprised he turned around and gave a quick salute before turning his eyes outside once again.

"Are we ready to exit hyperspace?" Cky asked the man at the rudder. He was a very lean man with no social skills but with the gentlest of hands when it came to starships. Jerjerrod would judge him as good as or better than the automated controls of the ISD ships. He had a vague recollection that his name was Orm.

"Thirty seconds to go, commander." He answered and gripped the control stick to his right. "Arriving in the Arkanis system in… four, three, two, one… exiting hyperspace." The world seemed to come to a halt as the enormous deceleration occurred but then an orange sun greeted the starship and its crew. Next to them was a small uninhabited planet of a grey colour, and behind it floated the gigantic labyrinth which was the asteroid field. Orm managed to flex the ship just enough to make it a good exit, and the usual hump that accompanied the exit was almost gone.

"Clean exit." Said Cky and turned to his armchair. "Take us to Arkanis."

---

About ten minutes after the Surprise had exited hyperspace; Impetus was sitting and studying the system with their radar when he picked up a small signal. It was nothing to care about, but as it seemed to originate from nothing he pinged one of the ensigns that was responsible for keeping an eye on the surrounding space. His face appeared in a small floating window next to the map.

"Yes sir?" He asked.

"Have you noticed the small signal originating from behind the grey planet?"

"We have sir… it looks like it is the signal of a small Imperial shuttle, and it is not scheduled to be here." Another small window appeared on Impetus' holo-desk. It was an other ensign from the lowerdeck. His tag said _Technician Scatta_.

"If I may interrupt, but that vessel is a sub-light vessel, and made by Imperial standards… that would mean it came off some mothership close by!" The first ensign did something on his computer.

"There is one lifesign onboard sir." Impetus had not received any data about another large vessel in this system, nor was the ship from the academy.

"Either it's a trap or someone is really stupid." Said Jerjerrod.

"What would you like us to do?" Asked Scatta. Impetus rose from his armchair and the desk moved along with him. He minimized it to a corner of his eye.

"Raise shields while approaching it, and then capture it with the tractor beam."

"Will do sir." Said Jerjerrod and repeated the orders to all involved officers. Impetus looked outside, but he could not yet see the ship.

"Alert one squadron and the in-flight personnel about an incoming vessel." He added. Some minutes later their new bearing had brought them around the dead grey planet and one could now perceive a small dot orbiting the planet.

"There it is, sir." Said Jerjerrod. "It should be in our docking-bays in about five minutes."

"Which one?"

"Number forty three is the first vacant one, are you going down?" Impetus turned nodding his head.

"There is not much more to do before we get to Arkanis."

"I see, I will make sure things run smoothly up here." Said Jerjerrod.

"You have the bridge." Said Impetus and walked towards the elevators. The docking bay he was looking for was in the front of the ship, so he simply took the elevators down to middleship deck and then walked about 100 metres before he arrived at number forty three.

A small squad of five stormtroopers awaited him in the hangar. He nodded to them and then turned to watch the shielded hole out into space, trying not to think about that if anything broke down within the shield generator, they would all be sucked out and turned inside out. Not that he had heard about anything like that happening. Within a minute or two, the small vessel appeared in sight. The in-flight personnel warned about that gravity would be disengaged for a short while when they repositioned and brought down the ship. Impetus got his cap off as he didn't want it to drift off into space and felt how his boots loosened from the metallic floor. Some of the technicians had small booster packs in their belt, allowing them to move up to the shuttle and fasten wires to its hull, making it easier to pull it down.

"Gravity on!" Warned someone. Impetus landed back on the floor with a _clink_ followed by _clink clink clink_ when the stormtroopers landed.

The shuttle was a small and insignificant one with many bumps and scratches from small particles that had flown into it when it had orbited the planet. It fell the last half metre down to the floor and then remained still, nothing moved in the windows.

"Check its loading ramp!" Ordered Impetus. One of the stormtroopers went over to the ramp and checked the display.

"It is locked Admiral!" He called back.

"Get a hacker down here. Quickly!" Impetus said to the company captain. Some fifteen minutes later, a technician came running down the hall. He had broken a sweat while running. "Get on with it!" Ordered Impetus and showed him the console. The hacker pulled out some small device from his pocket and inserted it into a small hole on the side of the console.

"It is a standard Imperial lock, sir. It will not take more than five minutes." He said while beginning to do things with his device.

"Don't say anything, just do it." Said Impetus bluntly and impatiently. He turned to the company captain. "Be ready to go inside as soon as he gets the door open." The man nodded, relaying silent orders through the white headsets to the rest of the company. Four minutes later the sweaty face of the hacker appeared from underneath the hull.

"We can open it now." He said. Impetus walked up to the panel and by using a manual lever opened the ramp. The ramp hissed down to the floor. Impetus followed the small group inside, staying behind them. He had no wish to be shot.

It was dark and cool inside, and an unpleasant smell lingered in the air.

"Careful." He warned. To their left was a cargo space, devoid of any life. There was an identical to their right with some stashed cargo. The squad moved forward towards the door to the cockpit, but it was jammed. From within it came silent sounds of someone moving around.

"Get the hacker in here!" He said and stopped. They had said that there was supposed to be one living entity onboard. The hacker arrived. "Get the door open!" He ordered. Within a minute it slid open. "Now get out of here." He said and moved forward to the front of the squad. "Do not shoot anything in our own colours!" Impetus warned and moved inside. Something lumped from one of the chairs in front and half a second later the squad was right around Impetus aiming at it.

"Hold." Ordered the captain.

Out of the chair in front stumbled a man, dressed as an Imperial officer in the regular grey form. He stared at Impetus and wrapped around his head was a piece of cloth, stained with blood.

"Where am I?" He pressed forward from a pair of dry lips.

"The ISD Surprise." Said Impetus. As he finished that sentence, a great look of relief came over the man's face.

"Unbelievable!" He half-whispered and slumped downwards. Impetus managed to catch him under his arms. He was unconscious.

"Medics!" He said and a pair of troopers moved out and took the man under his arms and legs.

"It looks like he is dehydrated." Said one of them.

"To the medbay then." Ordered Impetus and straightened. He made a personal note to himself that he needed to keep himself updated on this matter.

As they made their way inward towards Arkanis, Impetus let Jerjerrod hold the bridge while he went to investigate where that shuttle came from, and who the wounded officer was. The corridor he was in was gloomy and dark, having a circular shape with long tubes running along the ceiling. He stopped by a black door, took off his glove and put his palm on the palm reader next to it. The door slid open without a sound and he entered, fingering on his black glove. He found his fingers very pale.

In front of him stood a desk about half the size of his own with at least three monitors on it, and a blaster. Behind it sat Simoon. He was watching something on one of the screens. Impetus walked over to him, and only then he noticed that someone else was in the room together with him.

"Admiral!" He said and rose, saluted and then sat down again. "I was wondering when you would come by." His pale eyes flashed at Impetus and then back to the screen.

"Was it something you wanted to show me?" Impetus asked and looked around. There was not a single ornament on the walls except for something that looked like a synthetical flower with a fluorescent red light coming from it. Simoon pushed some buttons and a map of the galaxy appeared.

"We are there…" He pointed at a dot. "And the ship, to which the shuttle belongs, is over here… The Dark Tide is its name." He moved his finger over to the other side of the galaxy. "And that… is _impossible_… sir."

"Or we have another Stardestroyer in the system without knowing about it."

"What is also interesting is that the _ISD Dark Tide_ is officially controlled by Moff Julstan."

"We need far range security scanning… beyond the asteroids to the end of the system. And you should check for any radiation at all. One cannot completely hide a Stardestroyer!"

"That has already been done, there is an energy inconsistency behind one of the major gas giants, but it is not man made. Meaning there is no Stardestroyer in this system." Impetus stood still for a second, thinking.

"Very well then, I'll leave you alone. But why don't you have anything… anywhere?"

"I have my flower there, it's enough for me… Got it from my first and last girlfriend... She said I would like it better than her. I did. Not that it would be of interest to you." Simoon said, grinning.

"What do you mean?" Asked Impetus.

"Dude! Captain, sir… all female officers drool if you get any closer than ten metres from them, the pretty doctor included… They don't even look at me, but that's all right… I cope. Not that I need them anyway with all the work."  
"A most interesting comment, dude." Said Impetus. "I'm gonna continue cruizin' down to med-bay to the dude that my squad and I found lyin' about in the ship." He continued and pulled on his glove again. Simoon smirked again and bowed his head slightly.

"See you around." He said.

The med-bay, in comparison to the dark, gloomy corridors of the security section, was white and blue with stainless floors and equally spotless personnel. At least on the outside. Impetus found his way around with the help of the earpiece and a couple of very helpful nurses. He thought of the thing Simon had told him, but then there was the fact that as much as they could like him in private, they still held that frightened look in their eyes when they talked to him. It would not be an understatement that most of the crew was frightened of him, and maybe that was for the best. Everyone who knows that their commander can order them executed on the spot is frightened of the man. Not that he did that very often…

He moved through a manual door (!) and ended up in an artificially lit room with a three dimensional painting. On the bed in the middle of the room lay the unknown man, still in the unconsciousness he had fallen into when he had seen Impetus. Impetus walked up to him, taking up the journal at the side of his bed. He scrolled down the page, reading what was wrong with the man. A doctor entered the room.

"Severe dehydration." He said.

"I can read." Answered Impetus.

"Sorry sir."

"But what about his eye?"

"The left one is definitely gone… I would assume it's caused by one of those apparatus that deletes your memory. Very nasty stuff sir, I wouldn't even know where to get one." The doctor said, getting Impetus attention. "But we will arrange an implant, so one shouldn't worry too much. Otherwise he's fine."

"You can't just clone one eye?" Asked Impetus and found himself fingering on his brow, he dropped his hand. _Who would do something like this, and why? What had the officer known?_

"Some lucky bastards get wealthy enough to clone an eye, but this man was not one of them. Sorry, sir."

"Why are you sorry? It's your job." Impetus noted.

"Ah, yes, I need to move on; some sub officer broke his arm." Impetus nodded. The doctor spun around and walked out again. This was just great, one man in some kind of coma. No name, no nothing except a ramk badge. Even his code cylinders were gone! _Life was wonderfully hopeless and full of surprises._

IV.

Impetus walked down one of the hundreds of halls on his ship. They were now on their way to the Arkanis planet, and it would take then several more hours to reach their destination. Adding to that, today was a day off for some crewmembers. Day off! He sighed at the thought, but it had all been carefully planned by the staff officers. He was now walking deep in the bowels of the ship, and the corridors were not nearly as high as on the upper levels, nor was the light as bright. This was the place where most part of the crew moved, ate, slept and worked.

He turned into a white hall with more doors than he could count. He walked over to one where it said "KITCHEN ENTRANCE – STAFF" and walked inside. No-one seemed to notice him, and he was happy for that. He got his cap and jacket off and hung them into an empty locker. After that he walked over and grabbed a white shirt, apron and a bandana that covered the head. He put them all on and then pushed open the door to the main kitchen. It was a huge installation in three levels that spanned a total area of ca. 1000m2. People were running everywhere to maintain the cooking procedures. Most of all, it looked like a collection of ants that worked with immense speed, with the only difference in the colour. Everyone wore white.

Normally the ships had food synthesizers, but not this one, and it took a lot of manpower to be able to cope with the constant demand of food. The people that had planned the ships' budget were not so happy about it, but even though the mechanics at the Kuat Driveyards had done their best, nothing could be done except replacing the old with the more new and efficient. Impetus looked around for a second, and then went up to the second floor and started looking for the main chef of the floor.

Jerjerrod waited until the doors to the elevator closed and them let out a growl. How was he supposed to find the Admiral? He could be anywhere! _Why did they have this time "off-duty" anyway???_ He paced around as the elevator took him down to the officers' hallway, and exited. He soon arrived at the small door to his quarters, and it opened automatically. The apartment was small and two-roomed with a bathroom. As he was the Line Captain, he had also got a window, which exited to the back of the ship. From it, he could see the tail of the ship and the space they left behind themselves. The colours moved from red to dark grey and metal, together with some wooden panels. The whole ship was crazy. He went over to his small armchair and sat down into it, opening a holo-map of the ship.

"Computer, give me the last coordinates of Commander Cky." He said and rotated the map with his fingers.

"Security code requested." Jerjerrod sighed and closed his eyes, trying to be as efficient as the databank when he tried to recall the numbers. It didn't really work out. He hummed to himself some more, then opened his eyes. "369-VELVET-21."

"Code confirmed, accessing information." The computerized female voice said.

"Thank the divines for that." He said.

"I do not understand." The computer said.

"No, of course you don't. Get on with it."

A couple of seconds later, a green dot appeared on the 3D-map. It was somewhere below, almost at the cargo and docking bays of the Surprise. Jerjerrod furrowed his brows and sighed.

"Computer, specify location and upload it onto my headset."

"Already done, Captain." The computer said. Jerjerrod shut off the map and rose out of the chair. WHAT was Cky doing in the kitchen?!?

He made sure he looked respectable in the mirror before he exited his quarters and then walked in a hurried pace down the hall, past a small room in which four officers sat and played pazaak and then turned right at the main passageway. It was mid morning and the fifth day of the week, meaning that four thousand people had a day off today, mostly officers, but also scientists and pilots. They were now hanging on the railings out towards the panorama windows or sitting in some of the endless small hot-drink shops that had been so carefully put everywhere by the primes. He smirked to himself, the primes were the ones that built this ship several thousands of years ago, obviously they liked relaxing.

A young couple made up by a pilot and a low ranking bridge officer, if one was to believe their virtual-tags, strolled past Jerjerrod making him think about that he never really had any time to socialize. He soon made himself think about something else.

Well at the elvators he followed the light-green tag to the right elevator and ended up in a small and crowded corridor somewhere between deck 42 and 39. The virtual markings on the floor told him to go straight and he followed the corridor down into the belly of the ship. Soon, a smell of food hit his nose, and he realized he had not eaten breakfast.

He made is way past a locker room and entered through a small steel door. The room he entered was huge, spanning out in every direction and also several decks up and down. _So this was the kitchen._ Jerjerrod shook his head and headed towards the end where Cky was supposed to be. After dodging several chefs and assistants he finally came up to a big polished desk that was out of transparent micro-plastics. It was that kind that absorbed waste on the spot, making it ideal for a kitchen. Jerjerrod turned off his headlink and looked around. A small group of chefs, probably head chefs dissolved from one of the sides of the occupied desk and a single man remainined left. He did not have the length nor the width as many of the chefs, but his hands were constantly moving across the desk, preparing one thing after another. Jerjerrod looked on him and realized that the neck with the chef's bandana belonged to the Admiral. Silently he walked up and stood beside Cky, watching suspiciously as he chopped up some red roots and put them into a stove of some sort.

"Yes, Captain?" Came a voice and Cky glanced at him with his big jade eyes before they returned to the chopping.

"Sir, I was sent to inform you that…. our deep space scientist believe the there is a wormhole just behind one of the gas-giants in the far end of the Arkanis system. That would explain how the pirates come and go, but not how they manage to seize fully equipped imperial transports. Our board of high-officers will assemble this afternoon in the… uppership lounge, and you would be a welcome sight." Cky stopped chopping the roots and nodded to and assistant that took over the cooking.

"Understand?" Cky asked him. The young man nodded and continued. Thereafter Cky nodded for Jerjerrod to follow him. They walked up a round metal staircase up to the second floor, there the smells were even more exquisite and Jerjerrod felt how his stomach growled silently.

"Hungry Captain?" Asked Cky, glancing at him over his shoulder. Jerjerrod gave up a small smile as an approval. They found themselves in a less populated area of the kitchen, here desserts were prepared and brought out to waiting crewmembers. Jerjerrod had to remind himself that some actually considered this as late evening. _But how had the Admiral been able to hear his stomach through all the noise and clatter in the kitchen?_ Jerjerood decided it was best not to know, as with many other things in the Empire. Cky stopped and put his head into a freezer, picking up one palm sized egg of a greenish colour together with vegetables. Within a minute he was preparing fried egg with hacked greenery.

"A plate." He said to a floating robot above his head. It bleeped and materialized a platter giving it to Cky. "One of the few things that could be done about the kitchens… We can't synthesize food onboard, but everything else is all right. Saves enormous amount of cargo space." He said to Jerjerrod.

"Why is that, sir? I mean the food, why can't it be synthesized?"

"This ship is a living entity, far different from any normal ISD. The computer develops its own personality as you probably notice, the day and night rhythm controls the shifts and our food is grown on board in every space available… Even the vent-shaft mechanics compete in growing the largest tomatoes."

"Oh yes, it said in the manual… but the description was kind of vague, sir."

"Nobody actually knows much about the ship, it might blow up any second for all that we know, Captain." Cky said and flipped the food over on the plate. A fork had also been materialized. He pushed it to Jerjerrod, who opened his mouth, but then closed it. "A well fed Captain is an obedient Captain." The Admiral said and grinned, baring his, what seemed like, razor sharp canines.

"Cannot argue with that sir." Said Jerjerrod and nodded.

"I will see you in the uppership lounge this afternoon then." Cky said and quickly walked away. Jerjerrod did not lose any time on watching him, and began eating. The meal was delicious.

V.

Impetus, Jerjerrod, a band of white stormtroopers and Simoon stood waiting for the shuttle that was supposed to take them down to Arkanis. It arrived soon enough and landed on the floor with a _dunk!_. Impetus walked onboard first and then Simoon and Jerjerrod followed. The stormtorrpers came on last and closed the hatch behind them. Impetus took a seat next to Simoon.

"So tell me something about Julstan." He ordered.

"Controls this sector, and a number of planets. Among them Tatooine, heard that Lord Vader grew up there…" Simoon gave Impetus a glance. "Otherwise nothing really interesting comes into my mind. Perhaps the fact that he is a little power greedy is worth mentioning. He does not play fair games, so to say." Simoon took off his cap and ran his hand over his short red hair. He looked back at Impetus. "He will try to persuade you to leave the system, today... But you already know that, don't you?" He said.

"Yes, there is something about that wormhole. Perhaps the ships disappear into it or something, and he does not want to tell us." Jerjerrod, who sat on the other side of the shuttle, waved a finger.

"Perhaps there is something on the other side that he does not want us to find. If you say he is greedy, Simoon, then he might be hiding something in there, something he does not want to share."

"In any case, I will not leave until I find out where the missing ships are, and who took them."

"What if he orders you to leave? He IS a Moff after all, sir." Said Jerjerood.

"I take my orders from the High Command, he cannot overrule them even if he wants to."

"Clever, sir." Answered Jerjerrod and looked away again, brooding on something. Impetus walked up to the pilot's seats and looked out. They were soon to arrive at Julstans residence. From above it looked like a large villa, connected to the Flight Academy via certain walkways. It lay close to a yellow beach and the light blue ocean. It looked like very comfortable living.

A slight _bump!_ Announced their arrival to Arkanis. Impetus walked out first, followed by his officers. Three stormtrooopers followed behind and the rest stayed with the ship. They were lead to a veranda built out of wood. It looked over the ocean, sitting high on a cliff. Moff Julstan was already there.

"Sir." Said Impetus and saluted. Julstan did not look too happy to see him.

"Admiral Cky... your reputation precedes you." He said. Impetus knew this type; they got all the money they would ever need, many planets, and they still wanted more. He was not going to make things easy for Impetus, and it also looked like he had something hidden inside that greying head of his.

"You should not wory all too much about those pesky ships, Admiral. Your strange ship and that so called "crew" of yours could probably find more urging matters to attend to."

"Orders are orders sir." Said Impetus. He just wanted to leave as soon as possible as he felt that Julstan was only stalling him.

"Well, for your information we have managed to locate an unstable wormhole behind one of the gas giants, they probably flew in there by accident and got destroyed. The "attacks" mentioned in your first report are probably nothing but some anomlay in space time..."

"Indeeed sir. But I would need to take a closer look at it in any case. After that I am assured that the ships are gone, I will report it to Command and return to Coruscant." Impetus put his hands behind his back. Unstable wormhole? Perhaps, he would have to ask Enn'ingma about it. Hopefully, Julstan would also consider Impetus as one of those commanders that did not care much about the missions. Perhaps he thought that Impetus would simply take a glance at the wormhole and then go home as quickly as possible.

"If you must, you must." Said Julstan and gave a small wave, meaning they could go. Impetus saluted again and turned on his heels, walking back through the hallway. As they came out into the sunny landing pad, someone pushed his way up to Impetus and grabbed him by his arm. Within a second the unknown man had three blaster rifles at his head. The stormtroopers sure did a good job. Impetus found a pilot grabbing hold of him. He raised an arm to the Stormtroopers, ordering them to hold.

"I need to speak to you!" The pilot said. Jerjerrod got to the pilot's arm and twisted it out of its grip, pushing away the pilot slightly.

"Hey! What way is that to speak to a high ranking officer?!?" Yelled Jerjerood, eyes blazing.

"Indeed." Sneered Impetus.

"You have to find out what happened to them!"

"To who?"

"Half my squad went missing after a simple mission, and now they say they got killed by that wormhole... that´s bollocks!" The pilot gestured towards the veranda where Julstan had been. Jerjerrod was grinding his teeth.

"You say they did not die?" Asked Impetus coldly.

"I could hear them on my radio for over two minutes after they disappeared, sir. Someone cloaked them, and then..." He looked around. "I... don't want to think about what might have happened to them! You have to find them sir!"

"Someone cloaked them, are you sure?" Asked Simoon.

"What else???" Said the pilot. He looked around, finding other pilots coming out from the hangars. He did salute quickly, before leaving.

"May the stars help you the next time I see you!!!" Jerjerrod yelled after him, but then fell quitet. By the look in his eyes he was still choleric.

"Most interesting." Said Simoon.

"We are gong back... now!" Said Impetus, turning his steps towards the shuttle. "We need to find out what's on the other side of that wormhole!"

"I just remembered something, sir." Said Simoon.

"What?" Asked Impetus bluntly.

"He did not ask us if we had found any lost officers floating around in abandoned shuttles around dead planets, sir."

"Perhaps he does not know that he is gone, Simon. If that is the case, we should keep that secret to ourselves." Simoon nodded understandingly.

VI.

After getting five hours of deep sleep, Impetus woke to the sound of the com-screen pinging and humming in a very strange manner. It was unlike the usual Imperial wake up calls in the way that you actually didn't cover your ears when you heard it. Outside his window, the bright orange sun was beginning to appear above the hull of the Surprise. The morning shift was beginning.

After showering and dressing into his usual and only form, he sat down into his big, strikingly red sofa with a big sandwich. It contained everything from meat to strange fruits, and a cup of something he didn't know the name of in his left hand. While chewing through the sandwich, he pulled through about half of the reports from his personnel. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and he shut of the screen and rose. Leaving the cup on his table he took on the small earpiece and attached it to his left ear. A faint green menu appeared in front of him, but he didn't care about it right now.

Impetus took a good-for-your-teeth-pill and then exited his quarters. There were a couple of officers in the hallway that saluted, and Impetus responded before turning into one of the main walkways on the ship. He followed the current upward towards the higher levels of the ship. Walking in the endless masses of people that were going to and fro work made him think of when he had lived on Coruscant. The huge glass windows along the walkway made the sunrays fall inside and shine over all the different faces of his crew. Never in his life could he have imagined to be responsible over this amount of people.

When he walked past the midship dining room, the smells of warm food made it water in his mouth, even though he had eaten just some ten minutes ago. Stepping into one of the express lifts up to the bridge, Impetus got some company. It was the mechanic from before that had spotted that it was an Imperial shuttle floating around and that had opened the doors inside.

"Sir." He said and made a quick salute before coming to a halt next to Impetus. Anxiety oozed from him, but he still kept it well hidden.

The glass walls of the elevator began to reflect images of the passing levels as it ascended upwards. It had always amused Impetus to watch what the crew was doing as the elevator rose, and today was no exception. They passed the bakery and the uppership dining rooms. Some of the crew that sat closest to the glass raised a hand to say good morning.

"Is this your first assignment on a ship?" Wondered Impetus and turned to the mechanic. He seemed a little bit startled about the question.

"Yes sir. I was working in Kuat before this."

"Did you do any work on this ship?"

"Yes, I did sir." Impetus put a mental note on that. It could come in handy someday.

"You were lucky." Impetus said as the doors opened. "This is probably the best ship I have ever flown." He walked out of the elevator and onto the walkway up to his position at the front of the bridge. There, Jerjerrod was waiting for him.

"We have reached the asteroid field once again, sir. I have ordered the ship to a halt for a day. In that time our probes will be back and we can begin investigating the gas giant." He said and looked at Impetus, trying to judge his mood. A smart move, but impossible due to the total lack of expression on Impetus' face.

"I have the bridge." Said Impetus and walked up to the window. Jerjerrod walked up to him.

"Something is wrong." He said. "Don't you feel it too, captain?" Impetus looked at him, judging if he was serious, he was. "I have had a bad feeling since I awoke seven hours ago."

"I cannot do anything before someone or something else does something. But it is good you told me... keep an extra eye on things today."

"I will sir." Jerjerrod retreated to his armchair, in which he sat until about lunchtime, when he went back to his quartrers eat and sleep. For him this time was evening.

Impetus, on the other hand, stood for a couple of hours, scanning reports and overlooking the asteroid field that circled not too far from them. Something nagged at the back of his head, but he could not understand what it was, neither what it could mean. In the end he took fifteen minutes off to eat and then spent the rest of the day on the bridge. Most of the probes they had sent out had returned by the evening, only the two most close to the strange anomaly in by the gas giant were gone. That was most worrying in such a calm system, and it proved Julstan _was_ up to something. Still, all Impetus could do was to send the information to the High Command and wait until tomorrow, when they finally would know what kind of wormhole it was behind that planet.

Jerjerrod stood in a hallway, quite like all other hallways with the exception that in one of the walls was a gaping round hole, into which he was supposed to crawl. He had been well on his way "home" when Enn'igma had pinged him, requesting his presence in a hallway far-far away. Now he hesitated, looking in at the eerie green glow coming from inside, wondering if he was not dreaming after all.

"Captain? Are you coming?" Asked Enn'igma, sticking out his head from the hole.

"Are you sure there is nothing toxic inside?" Jerjerrod asked, reluctantly lifting his boot over the edge of the wall, stepping inside.

"I have spent many days in here, and there are no symptoms of any kind." Enn'igma reassured him. "Follow me sir." Jerejerrod looked around finding what looked like an old maintenance hallway running along the side of the wall, disappearing behind a bend. In the roof, on the walls and scattered across the dirty floor tiles lay small whitish green and yellow crystals.

"What is this?" Asked Jerjerrod, avoiding stepping on one of them.

"There is something on this ship..." Said Enn'igma, looking at him with his red eyes. "A substance that grows and reinforces the walls, having a fruit that is a strange kind of crystal. But that is not the most interesting…"

The corridor widened into a round room. It was not like any other known room on the ship, being out of white plastics that were lit not by light rods in the roof, but by the same crystals he had found growing on the way here. In the walls were control panels of a strange kind, obviously shut down. Enn'igma stopped just before the centre of the room, waving away some other scientists. Jerjerrod looked down on the floor, looking at a black square; it looked as if a big tile had been laid down on the floor. It did not emanate any light at all.

"These devices, they are from those who originally built the ship? The Primes?"

"We have reason to believe that they are, but what they do, we cannot say. Only one of the stations is currently operating, and it is not deciphered."  
"Then decipher it." Said Jerjerrod, moving closer to one of the consoles.

"The problem is that it only reacts to my touch and not of the other lower ranking scientists..." Said Enn'igma. "We believe that there is a speaker somewhere here, or some additional equipment that needs to be revealed before we can use it, as the green "moss" has grown over much of the room."

"And why did you bring me here then, to show me your fertilizer moss or the shining crystals?"

"I have a theory that in order to initiate the start sequence of the computers, the higher ranking officers need to be in this room. Just try touching one of the round spheres you see." Jerjerrod looked over at the Doctor, but he looked certain, so he touched one of the centre spheres on the control board. It slowly lit up into a faint orange. From behind some moss, something like a voice could be heard.

"I think it is talking." Jerjerrod carefully scraped away the moss with his boot.

"That was a female voice, but the voice of the computer is male." Said Enn'igma.

"My voice is female..." Continued Jerjerrod.

"How can that be?" Asked Enn'igma. Jerjerrod just shook his head, and then decided to try something.

"Computer..." He said, "Repeat last message."

"_You have accessed the core database of this system, captain_." Said the loudspeaker.

"Indeed!" Said Enn'igma.

"_We are wondering, why does not Xaldenn'ig'mazet respond to our inquiries?_"

"Who are we?" Asked Jerjerrod.

"The loudspeaker is overgrown." Answered Enn'igma.

"_I see, then We shall help you clear this room so that we may speak freely to each other_." The computer said.

"Would you explain to me who "We" are?" Asked Jerjerood again.

"_We are the ship's Gathered Computer Intelligence, called GCI by your predecessors. Alone, we are just stations, but wired together some of us can take on more intelligent and sentient forms_."

"I need to write a report about this to the Admiral." Jerjerrod said quickly. Enn'igma nodded.

"Do you know how much knowledge these computers contain?" Enn'igma contemplated. "Computer, do you know how to make... these kinds of crystals the artificial way?"

"_We do know, its best use is when you use them to light the ship's private quarters_."

"Do you have any other uses?" Asked Jerjerrod.

"_If needed we can divert extra power to a secondary shield around this ship, synthesize food and many other useful things_."

"Keep me updated on your progress doctor." He said. Enn'igma nodded. Jerjerrod took a deep breath while analyzing the possible threat from these computers. He could not come up with an immediate one, so he took his leave and made his way back through the overgrown corridor to the hole in the wall. Well outside, he stopped. Green spots all over his form made him look like some gardener. All he wanted to do now was to shower, and sleep undisturbed until tomorrow.

It took him no more than five minutes to reach the officer's quarters. While walking there he passed three stormtroopers, two of which followed him with their gazes until he turned into the red corridor.

"…Line Captain… Jerjerrod… better stay out of his way or he'll eat you…" Jerjerrod heard before they were too far away. He did not smile, as he just did not often do that anymore, but his mood improved, if just slightly.

VII.

Impetus rolled over to one side of the bed and looked at the watch. It had three pointers, all going in different speeds around and around. The fun thing was that it had the same period as the day and night cycle on the ship. After watching them a while Impetus smelled something odd in the air, he sniffed the air again and the strange and almost insensible smell remained. Sitting up in bed he slowly looked around. A faint glow of what seemed whitish-blue light emanated from his living room.

All his senses became instantly alert, but it still didn't feel as if the situation was threatening, yet. Impetus slowly slid out of bed, only wearing his underwear and a white undershirt. He moved up to the doorstep, looking over into the living room. At first he stood still, only seeing something in the middle of the floor looking like some kind of pale holographic image. He moved closer and rounded his desk, keeping a safe distance from whatever it was.

The night sky behind Impetus back didn't help much to illuminate the room either, and he moved somewhat closer to the thing and placed himself in front of the table. He now saw the shape more clearly, and for a moment he thought he recognized it. To his eyes it had the shape of a man, slightly taller than him. Impetus legs began feeling soft.

"What are you…?" He whispered unwillingly. The image turned towards him and suddenly revealed its face from under a hood. Impetus stumbled back on his table, gripping the edge with cold fingers. "What kind of sick joke is this?!?" He cried out, looking upon his dead fathers face.

"You forget that I was not a simple man alive, Impetus." The image said.

"What? You are not real; I'm just dreaming this right? A sick dream that's what you are!"

"No, I am not." The image of his father said. "I have always been here, with you. And I will always be." A knot in Impetus stomach made him want to bend over.

"You are dead!" He said. The image cocked his head slightly.

"There is no death, there is the Force…" It said. "I just became one with the Force, as all Jedi's do, and you know that. Don't play dumb, Impetus." That phrase made Impetus get up and dry his suddenly watery eyes.

"Why are you here?" He asked with a shaky voice.

"To tell you that your brother is looking for you, and he is very close to finding you, Impetus. Don't let him down."

"My brother? You mean the one I saw on Corona when I… Why would he be here?"

"He is not here. Yet. But no matter, you can ask him when you meet him."

"So we will meet?"

"You are still a clever boy…or man, that is. Time flies so fast." The image gave up a laugh.

"Oh," said Impetus sarcastically. "...and where were you when the Republic officers beat me up, huh? Hanging about in the ceiling together with all the other dead Jedi?!?"

"I was actually busy with the roof, which you remember fell so nicely ontop their heads?" Impetus fell quiet.

"Just remember that I am around when you're in trouble."

"Not all the time then..." Murmured Impetus, finding himself sweating.

"I cannot be around all the time. But didn't you have those strange asteroids around your ship to take care of?" The image of his father wondered.

"They have been acting strange." Impetus said.

"Well, in ten minutes one of them is going to blow up your nose with a particle accelerator if you don't do something about it."

"Particle accelerator??? Are they ships?" Impetus quickly got up and ran in to his bedroom, pulling on his trousers and boots.

"Ships, yes. One sort I do not know anything about. You better hurry, Impetus. And good luck." The figure disappeared slowly, and the glow faded away.

"Dad!" Called Impetus, but got no response. He looked on the watch. Nine minutes left. He wouldn't even have the time to take his jacket on. Pulling on his belt to look at least somewhat decent, he sprinted out of his quarters and ran along the now quite empty walkway towards the bridge. During the time he ran, he could barely believe what he was doing. _His father?_ His brother that he barely knew he had and had only seen once? Ships camouflaged as asteroids? He barely believed himself. Could he really trust what he had seen! _But better safe than sorry_!

Up by the elevator stood a guard and one of the maintenance officers, probably also heading to the lift.

"Sir?" One of them asked, straightening his back. Impetus dried some cold sweat out of his forehead and looked on them both.

"I'm in a hurry." He panted. The elevator arrived and they all stepped in. "You should hold on a little bit tighter." Impetus added and put his palm on the pad to the right of the doors. "It's going to go a little bit faster than usual. Computer; maximum speed up."

"Yes, Admiral." The computer responded and powered up into a state where the maintenance officer looked like he would be sick. Impetus could almost compare it to flying an X-Wing. They quickly arrived on the bridge and Impetus left the two men in the elevator while he quickly moved out and said:

"I have the bridge." A lot of heads turned. Impetus looked at the ship's bridge-clock, a little bit more accurate than the one at his quarters. Three minutes. He brushed back his fringe and walked up to the front, and indeed, the asteroids had moved into something that looked like a hazy line. Probably no one had even noticed. "All shields to the front half!" He said.

"Redirecting." A man to his left said.

"Is there something out there?" Wondered one of the junior officers. Impetus looked at him, frowning.

"The asteroids are in a line! They were not when I left the last time." He said. "Sound battle stations!"

"Oh!" Said the junior officer and hastily climbed down. Out of the same trench, but on the other side, came Stunn, looking like he didn't believe his eyes. He was holding his lunch in one of his hands.

"The TIE's are ready, sir!" Someone patched trough from second bridge deck.

"Have them on standby." Responded Impetus and pulled out his eyepiece out of his right pocket. Putting it on, data about the ship appeared in the corner of his eye. A moment after, something that looked like a glimmering short beam emanated from one of the asteroids, the others followed. The thumps were not as heavy because of the strengthened shield, but they didn't last forever either.

"Weapons officers, do your work!" Impetus ordered.

"Yes sir." They responded and he could see how the turrets on outer deck began to move. Within seconds the fire was returned and scattered green and red beams began battering the asteroid ships. The whining sound could be heard inside the bridge. Impetus tuned to Stunn.

"When the TIEs get out, you take care of them."

Stunn nodded hastily and began making his way back towards the flight control.

"Get us moving." Impetus told the rudder-man and then began ordering about shield strength and other important things. Within a half an hour, many of the ships had been either isolated or scattered. The Surprise had been circling around the group of ships, barely taking damage.

Then out of nowhere came at least a dozen of flying things that looked like needles. One of them went straight into the hull of the Surprise and destroyed one of the energy generators.

"Get the TIE-fighters out! Destroy those things!" Impetus called back and continued to watch the battle outside. Once the TIEs got out and into formation, the needles really didn't have any chance at all.

Soon all the big asteroid-ships were eliminated or incapacitated. Feeling how tired he was, Impetus sat down into his armchair and assessed the damage. They had all the fighters back, a couple of small fires had broken out around the areas where the needles had struck, and just twenty nine people had perished. Out of 39,000 that was quite good. Stunn returned and put on his cap. He had obviously taken it off during the fights.

"You have the bridge." Impetus ordered and turned, going towards the elevator. As he looked back, Stunn was taking out his lunch again. Well inside the elevator, he was accompanied by a female communications officer. She was trying to hold a smile from her face. Normally, Impetus wouldn't have cared, now he found it hard as well.

"What are you smiling at?" He wondered, feeling how his smile widened, although hed did not want it to.

"Sir..." She tried to say as normal as possible. "...I never imagined you running around on the bridge half-clad. I mean I know you jog sometimes, we see you running by sometimes, but this is something new, sir."

"We? You mean you and your female friends at breakfast?"

"I...yes sir."

"So you are spying at me." Impetus said and turned to the doors as they opened. And before she had time to answer, he was already heading back towards his quarters in the officers corridor.

When the sun once again came up over the hull and into Impetus window, he was already sitting in his red sofa. He had barely been able to sleep through the rest of the night, as he still couldn't believe it was his father he had seen. He had heard a lot of crazy Jedi ghost stories, but this was at the edge of actually being true.

And even if he did not think about the image of his father, he still had the asteroid menace to deal with. He had his suspicions that the ships had used Imperial technology as their primary source of attack. The thought that someone supplied them with it was disturbing, and he had sent for records of all Imperial transports in and out of the system.

Impetus stood up and walked up to the window, looking down on the grey planet below. On several places on the hull he could see small men working outside with repairing the damages together with some R2 droids.

A knock on the door made Impetus turn and straighten himself, realizing he had fallen far too long into deep thought.

"Enter." He said. The door slowly opened and Jerjerrod walked in, looking somewhat more tired than usual. That was not so strange, as he had only gotten four hours of sleep, as most.

"Admiral" He said. "What would you like me to do?"

"Yes, Captain. I need all hands on these strange ships for as soon the sun is up. Reports about transports into the system will arrive shortly. Please find out how those weapons even entered this system. When you have done so, gather up all that had anything to do with it and then report. And don't try to make it all today, or you'll overwork yourself. Take naps once in a while, and then keep working. Do you understand?"

"Aye, sir" Jerjerrod said. "And sir, I got a tip from someone of a link you should check out on the Inter HoloNet of the ship. It is rather… suggestive. I sent it to your holo mail." Impetus nodded and returned a salute. Jerjerrod turned, but then stopped and faced Impetus again. "Oh yes, we found some kind of device that could strengthen our shields further in a secret room. I wrote a report about it… three hours ago." He gave up a tired little bow and walked out. Impetus felt a little sorry for pushing Jerjerrod into working, but such was the life of higher officers. He suspected everyone in the higher ranks would probably have to work double shifts to be able to catch up with recent events.

Sometime later, he would take a look on the officer that they had found in the ship, as he had gotten a message just this morning that he had woken up. But first he sat down and opened a link to the Inter Holo-Net of the ship, arriving at the main forum of activities. He had arranged for himself so that he wouldn't be seen as the Commander of the ship, but as a simple machinist from the engine department. He always enjoyed that.

Opening the file he had got from Jerjerrod, he found a small video file. It was Jerjerrod in some kind of robe, probably the one he wore at his quarters. His green-grey eyes looked like they were looking at everything at the same time.

"Admiral, here's the link. Just remember that I was not the one who found it." Impetus followed it and found himself in a forum, probably for the female workers onboard the ship. They were not many, and probably they had gathered themselves here to discuss… chick things.

He quickly found what Jerjerrod had been referring to. Someone had already found pictures of him running around half-naked this morning. And obviously the women liked what they saw, as they all seemed to be discussing the topic quite thoroughly. Impetus enjoyed the debate for a while, and then withdrew from the computer. It was time to get to work.

Xalii was waiting for him outside the unknown officer's room, holding a notepad at her side. Impetus let her enter the room first and when he had walked inside he closed the door. The light was slightly dimmed so the man would have time to adjust himself to the new optical implant. _Been there, done that._ Impetus thought.

The man was nothing special with plain brown hair and now one blue eye. Inside the other socket was a silvery eye, glining red in the dim light. It was made from cybernetic-material that made Impetus think of Lord Vader, or some pirates he had seen on Coruscant as a kid. At the thought of Vader, his right arm tingled at the place he had broken it.

"Can you talk?" Impetus asked.

"I can." The man said, rasping.

"Then tell me your name, I already know you are a Lieutenant."

"That is quite hard… I don't remember my own name… sir. All I remember was that I was in a cell. I got to the hangar bay and into the ship via some ducts. I could barely move… because of something… but I guess I made it. Whatever happened to me, I did not want to do again."

"Did anyone notice you as you made your way to the shuttle?" Asked Impetus.

"If I remember things straight, they ordered me to be killed. So when I was gone from my holding cell, they simply thought that someone else beat them to the job..."

"And you have no idea why?" He asked again. The officer shrugged.

"He may be lying." Said Xalii, looking at Impetus. He returned her gaze.

"He is not." He replied.

"How would you know?"

"I can smell it, doctor, do not worry. Simoon will process him, but he will not find you lying, will he?" Asked Impetus and turned to the man.

"No."

"There, you see." Impetus got his MDC, patching up a connection to the guard captain down in the cells. Xalii gave him a devious glance, showing she did not believe him. Impetus just smirked in her direction.

Jerjerrod was standing on the bridge next to the Admiral, looking at a direct link to Moff Julstan. He was a set back man, quite thin with watery eyes and a round nose. On Cky's other side stood the unknown officer. He was slightly pale, but as he could stand, Cky had brought him here.

"Aha, Admiral Cky and his loyal lapdogs..." He said almost cheerfully. "Have you arrived to any conclusion concerning the disappearance of our ships?"

"I have only two things left to investigate before I can say that it was nothing, sir." Cky answered. Jerjerrod glanced at him, but then remembered that Julstan was Cky's superior officer. And that this was only the second time he had ever seen the Admiral actually in a position where he was _not_ the commanding officer. His gaze moved back to Julstan, who stood in a well lit room with a high ceiling. He must be on the planet then, Jerjerrod thought.

"I do not think that the Imperial Command would like to see you spend your recourses on such trivial matters, Admiral. You should probably pack up and go back to where you belong; guarding some planet or something else that fits the size of your small ship." Jerjerrod could see how Ckys hands tightened behind his back, but on the front he looked just as cold as ever. Fascinated, Jerjerrod decided that he would have to learn how to brace himself like that, as commanding officers tended to be ruder the higher in the ranks they were, and he was not stopping at Line Captain!

"I have consulted the high council and they agree that I should investigate this matter fully before I leave, sir. And I will do just that." Julstan became slightly redder in the face, staring at Cky. Jerjerrod was relived that he was actually somewhere far off on a planet and not in the same room.

"You." Cky said and waved the unknown officer forward. It was quite obvious that Julstan was shocked at the sight of him.

"Where does this man come from?!?" He hissed.

"From a shuttle, sir." Said Cky.

"I demand that man brought to me right away!"

"Then I would have to disregard some paragraphs in the laws, and I am not known for doing that, sir. The High Command does not wish me to release him either."

"The High Command???"

"Yes, I have spoken to them." Said Cky. Jerjerrod wondered when he had gotten the time for that. Julstan stared at Cky for a moment.

"Then you should not expect any help from me, I already told you what I know, and that's it."

"Yes sir." Said Cky, seconds later the connection broke. Cky turned around sighing to himself.

"He is lying I believe." Commented the unknown officer.

"Indeed he is, and not only about where his ship is I fear. Captain?" Jerjerrod turned to him.

"Yes sir."

"Take us out beyond the asteroid belt and we'll see what's hiding in that wormhole!"

"Of course sir." said Jerjerrod and winked Orm to himself. "Towards the gas giant, carefully."

"Always." Said Orm and got into the pilot's chair. The second and third pilot came and joined him. To move such a ship as the Surprise, there was a need of at least three people. One behind the main rudder and two to make sure that the ship tilted and rolled properly according to space.

A medical officer escorted the unknown officer back into the elevator and Cky sunk down into his chair. Jerjerrod also sat down wondering how this all was pieced together... Where did the ships disappear? Who was the unknown officer? And what did the wormhole have to do with everything? The only thing he could guess was that the hole was linked to another place in space, and that the ships had entered it by accident. He rose out of his seat once again, moving feet towards the trench; well there he took the ladder down to the astrogators. He sure hoped they knew something he did not.

IIX.

"Is that the wormhole?" Asked Impetus while leaning on the front bar on upper deck, looking at the object in front of him. It was a small elongated white bulb of light. Enn'igma stirred from his facinated thoughts.

"It is, and a stable one as well!" He said almost silently. "I never thought to see one myself..."

"This may be the reason for Julstan being so dismissive. Maybe he has something on the other side that he does not want us to see?" Asked Sess, standing near one of the holo-projectors. "We should at least be prepared for hostilities, sir." She said, looking up on Impetus.

"Indeed, you will handle that, will you?" He asked.

"I will right away."

"Buy the way things went the last time, I have nothing to worry about. Those disguised ships were an easy match for you, Sess." She smiled and nodded, walking away quickly. She was followed by a pair of sub-officers in grey. Impetus turned back to Enn'igma.

"Is it safe to go through? Or will we end up in a sun?"

"We will know in a moment." Said Enn'igma while his blue fingers flew over some holographic command-board. "Our probe should be returning with pictures... now." Impetus looked out and caugt sight of a small rec-probe flying out of the hole. "Yes, there is definetley a system on the other side! We can go through anytime, sir!"

"Synchronize the ship with it and then enter the wormhole." Ordered Cky to

Orm, who was attending the bridge, supervising some cadets that were onboard to learn how to maeuvre ships. Most only got to fly regular sized ships and TIE fighters, but these guys were to fly a starship, if only for a couple of minutes. Cky saw the relief of the cadets as Orm waved them away and took over the controls. His second pilot got a seat, but as the third pilot was on leave, Orm got one of the cadets to sit down. Cky found this enjoying and sat down, spinning his chair slightly. Enn'igma was sitting down somewhere in the back. He was scanning the data from the probe.

"Steady left." Said Orm, slightly tilting the control-stick. The cadet had already begun sweating, but he kept his hands steady, something that all pilots were required to learn before flying any starship at all.

"We are ready to fly, sir!" Said Enn'igma. Impetus gave a slight nod to Orm.

"To the unknown system." He ordered, watching the poor cadet with humour as he tried not to look too nervous. As they approached the white light, it seemed to swell and dissolve into thousand of small stars. Then, the stars engulfed the ship as if swallowing it whole. The space around them turned from black to bright yellow, and a ripple shook the ship as it passed through the barrier. Even Impetus turned and looked, as the ship accelerated to such speeds man could never accomplish, even in hyperspace.

"Ready!" Said Orm. The two other pilots braced themselves.

"Stunning… just amaing!" Said Enn'igma. For a couple of seconds the gravity was disabled, and then stretching from a pinhead into the entire space, came the galaxy that they all knew. The jump out was followed by a slight bump as the ship settled into space.

"Heavy right!" Ordered Impetus. The ship tilted right, steering clear of a small planet. "Where are we?" He asked the astrogators, aware that if they had exited space just a little farther to the left, they would probably have had difficulties evading the planet. A small holographic picture appeared in front of his eyes.

"This system is unknown, sir."

"Then we stop for recon. Deploy probes to all planets in the system and prepare the corps for landing. I want to know about every part of this system by tomorrow. Is that clear?" Impetus said.

"Yes, sir." Half of the bridge replied, and the gigantic machinery that was the Imperial Navy began spinning.

"Move it!" Called Jerjerrod, clapping his hands. "We have a system to explore!"

While waiting for the recon-squad to do their jobs, Impetus was pacing in his private living room. The system they were in had five planets, the outer one a big piece of rock, the next two gas giants, one orange and one blue. The innermost planet was half liquid, but the second was lush green with blue oceans. That was quite interesting, especially for the Science department. The rays from the sun were quite warm, and Impetus pulled off his jacket while lying down into his ridiculously red sofa. It was just enough room to stretch out, so he did just that. A slight tingling, as if something was creeping on his chest made him turn to one side, putting a pillow over his head. He sure hoped those recon-droids took long time finding out whatever they were looking for…

GCI =

Jerjerrod found himself looking out the window for far too long and stirred from his place in the seat. Over by a stationary computer stood Harold and Enn'igma. They were both tired, looking half sloppy in their suits. But as long as they had to work, they would.

"So what can you tell me?" He asked them, they both looked up.

"We are positive that there is a small base here at the end of the system, obviously Imperial. Looks like a mining base." Said Harold.

"And on the other side of the system… We have the green planet… Take a look!" Said Enn'igma. Jerjerrod looked at the round holographic and photo projection the probes had sent back. Around the planet circled something small, maybe the size of three hangar bays.

"Zoom in there." He said. Harold tapped something on the screen. "No… you are not serious, are you, Lieutenant?" He said to Enn'igma.

"I am, and Wizzy Harold just confirmed! We have a space station!" Jerjerrod turned three shades paler and spun around his chair to a crewman.

"Activate cloaking!" He called. "Hurry!" One of the crewmen nodded, and the ship was engulfed in a shielding cloak. "We need the Admiral."

"He is up in the lounge, let us go there together." Said Harold. Jerjerrod nodded.

"Orm, you have the bridge." He said. They all hurried to the elevator.

It was quite dark in the uppership lounge, and the orange light from the gas giant lit up the back wall and all that lay in its way. One of the chairs spun around, in it Cky was sitting, contemplating something Jerjerrod guessed by his unemotional face.

"We have news." Said Jerjerrod.

"First we have an unauthorized base on the outermost planet. Probably Julstans making." Said Harold. Cky raised his eyebrow, the two thin scars continuing just under it became visible. Jerjerrod had always thought that it ended at his eyebrow.

"And we have a new civilization to consider. The aliens on the green planet have a space station." Cky's other eyebrow went up.

"Frii, you are on the base, it must have something to do with the disappeared supply ships. Find out where they are, or where they were." Cky said, rising from the seat.

"Aye." Said Harold, leaving the lounge quickly.

"Now, do we have signals?" Cky turned to Enn'igma.

"I will patch it through to here." He responded, walking up to the big screen in front of the conference table. Jerjerrod sat down into one of the seats close to the screen. A quite clear signal appeared, and a video of some nature appeared.

"We have already begun decoding the language; the computers make an easy work of it." Enn'igma continued as one of the inhabitants appeared on the screen. Jerjerrod looked at it, finding it most human formed. It had a quite "normal" sized head with clear blue eyes, sunburned skin and almost fluffy white hair. He also realized that it had horns, curly things at the side of its head. It was sitting behind a trunk, pointing at some animal. It wore khaki.

"It's a natural show!" He said.

"Indeed." Said the Admiral. "You said they had a space station?"

"Yes, as we have time, I think we should send off a message to the Command, and then head for the planet… It is our job, is it not, to safeguard the interests of the Empire?"

"Safeguard it from people like Julstan, I believe he is trying to gain control of this sector as well." Said Cky, he turned to Jerjerrod. "You are in control of the Quanta Sector, is that correct?" Jerjerrod nodded. "It is not far from here… If I could get the council to let me control this new sector, Julstan would have to keep to Arkanis."

"A good idea. I will set course then." Jerjerrod said, rising to his feet. Cky nodded approvingly.

"Let's phone home." He said.

"We have recieved word by sub-space communicatons." Said Cky, walking up next to Jerjerrod. In front of them was the blue gas giant, passing on their starboard side.

"I have arranged for probes that will indicate if something moves into the system, but we do not know if the Dark Tide is already here... If it is, we will not notice her until a couple of hours." Responded Jerjerrod.

"In a couple of hours we will be sneaking up upon an unsuspecting planet, Captain."

"We have mapped the mineral recources, nothing extraordinary or worth of attention. If the planet was uninhabited, I would just leave it be."

"We should say so to the Imperial Command as well. They have enough rebellious worlds on their hands, why would they need to care about such an _unimportant_ one as this?"

"I agree." Said Jerjerrod, getting the small inclanation of his words. "So what did the Command say then?"

"That Julstan is not to have another territory, as they fear to lay too much power in one hand. And, as I only have my humble Ocean planet system to govern, I am allowed to claim any stray system as my own." Cky said, giving a hint of a smile.

"Then anything Julstan does here is illegal." Jerjerrod said. Cky nodded.

"I shall take my leave; Stunn will be up any minute. Have him prepare the flight crews."

"Aye sir." Jerjerrod saluted. Cky returned it and walked down to the elevators. Within minutes, Stunn had taken his place.

VIII.

"So what do we have?" Asked the Admiral, fixing his eyes on Jerjerrod. He was standing with his chin up and hands behind his back, gazing out on the green-grey planet outside the window. On the holo-projector a small model of the space station orbiting the planet, on it were two space shuttles that had arrived to it. They were not much different from any other spacecraft.

"Simoon managed to intercept a fluctuation in space-time. A sub-space message. The Dark Tide is definitely here, and that poses a major problem."

"Yes, an Imperial II-class Destroyer… We can outrun it but… our firepower is not as strong, nor are the current shields." Commented Cky, frowning while saying it.

"But we hold position?"

"We hold position, Captain. Did you manage to intercept the message?"

"You should ask Simoon about that, sir." Jerjerrod responded, nodding towards the long redhead. His long posture was looking down over some crouching communication officers, his black gloved hand shut tightly behind his back.

"Simoon!" Called Cky. The officer turned, straightening.

"Sir!" He responded. Cky nodded for him to come over. It took him three steps to cross the distance. Even Jerjerrod felt slightly overwhelmed by his height. Cky lowered his voice.

"What did you intercept?"

"The last part, saying as the population was not necessary on the planet in order to start mining. They are planning to bomb them off the surface."

"The horned ones?"

"Yes, the Aey as they call themselves." Cky shook his head, pulling at the gloves on his hands.

"Then we shall protect them. I would have Enn'igma and Frii up here as well as Sess and Stunn. You will have the honour of waking him up." Cky said and turned to Jerjerrod. He just simply nodded his head.

Fifteen minutes later, the four other officers were up on the bridge. Cky first turned to Sess. Jerjerrod had always thought that she looked like she could bite the head off anyone in the room.

"You should proceed to get your crew ready for action, especially maintenance and technicians. Put the best gunners on the sides, on the more precise weapons and have them coordinated with each other, and stay up here in case I need you." Sess nodded and clapped her boots together before turning and walking away.

Cky continued up to Stunn.

"I would have you take the TIE-fighters in case we need them. Do as you did last time and I am sure we will be fine on that front." Stunn looked slightly surprised by the comment, but just nodded. Cky sat down into his armchair. Enn'igma was already in place, and so was Frii, but he was still panting from the long run across the ship. Cky let him get some air before continuing.

"We will need to be able to cloak the space station, and any shuttles if they have left the station. We probably will not have to bother about the planet as they must concentrate all their power on us to be able to bring us down." He said. Frii nodded, leaning on the steel bar next to the observation window.

"If we move close enough to the space station, there barely will be any power loss on the shields, the shuttles I suggest Sess takes care of with the tractor beam."

"Doctor," Said Cky. ", can that GCI that Jerjerrod told me about be of any help here?"

"I have asked it, sir." Responded Enn'igma. "It said we have an additional shielding device that we do not know about. We can access it from here, so we have an additional 20% more power."

"And Kuat did not notice this, did they?"

"It is integrated into the ship's hull." Jerjerrod shook his eyes from the blue fingers of Enn'igma, saying:

"The gunners could coordinate themselves to shoot at the same at the same target. That would make temporary holes in the shields of the Dark Tide, and then the second line of gunners could hit its hull at least a couple of times before the shield repaired itself." Cky nodded.

"Dismissed to your positions."

The shadow of night had fallen across the planet of the Aey and thousands of small dots illuminated the dark planet surface. Impetus had sent out a warning to all personnel that there was going to be a battle, so they would have time to prepare. Now, he had also found out that Moff Julstan was onboard the Dark Tide. They had spotted some energy fluctuations on the outside of the system, and they looked like they were heading their way.

Impetus had arranged everything as good as he could, but he was not sure that it was enough. They still faced a superior power. But on the other hand, he told himself, he had the best gunmen in the galaxy… He kept looking out the window on the planet, wondering what kind of a shock they were up to. Finding two alien ships fighting a couple of miles above your head was not a good wake up call, but perhaps the easiest way of showing them who was in charge of the _good_ side.

A _ping!_ echoed in his ear, and a comlink off-ship opened. At the same time the Star Destroyer Dark Tide dropped its cloaking. A knot turned in his stomach, but he had done these things before, so he kept himself cool. Jerjerrod on the other hand looked almost_ pleased _with the thought of an upcoming battle. It was almost so that you could see a smile on his face… almost. It was Julstan on the link.

"I suggest you leave this territory or I will be forced to open fire on your ship, sir." Said Impetus, putting on his grey-green cap, as if that would give him any luck.

"I order you to move out of the way, Admiral." Answered Julstan.

"My orders come from the Imperial Command and cannot be overridden."

"Your ship is a class I, my is a class II. You do know what that means, do you not, Captain? I will blow it to another galaxy if you get in my way."

"You may have a heavier ship, but I have the best crew in this galaxy."

"Then we shall see." Said Julstan and waved his hand. The connection broke. Impetus turned to Jerjerrod, standing excited at his side.

"Time for the general alarm, Jerjerrod. Everyone to stations and drop cloaking." Jerjerrod nodded, turned, and echoed his command out on the bridge. Impetus opened a link to Sess. "Catch that Aey shuttle Commodore, and then it is blasting time."

He saw the small shuttle floating close to the ship gently shake and be dragged towards the ship.

"Shields front." He ordered. "Shut down all unnecessary power drawing decks." The kitchens that normally drew quite a lot of energy, as well as many other appliances were always shut down, giving a couple of more minutes to the shield generator.

"We should sit down, sir." Said Jerjerrod. Impetus nodded and sat down. A green- silvery holographic display showed him most data that he needed, as well as quick links to the different stations. It was indeed the Dark Tide that began the bombardment of the Surprise.

"Return fire!" Ordered Impetus, leaving the rest to Sess and her crew of gunners. One could see the damage dealt by the green turbolasers inflicted on the shields, but Impetus noticed that once in a while the lasers gathered up and fired a massive burst into some small holes created by the constant bombardment. Then, a rumble shook the ship, as if hit by a distant thunder.

"Shields at fifty-five." Someone said. Impetus stretched his fingers, finding the Dark Tide's TIE-fighters swarming from underneath the great ship.

"Intensify forward batteries!" He ordered while linking up with Stunn. "Get them out, close to the hull at first." Stunn nodded. As the foreign TIE fighters swarmed past the bridge, Impetus found one smaller squadron, heading for the space station. He could only hope it was close enough to the ship's shield. It was, and the ships simply bashed into the shields, blowing up in a massive explosion that could be heard across half the ship.

"The Aey must be dropping their jaws now!" Jerjerrod responded to the event. He gave Impetus a quick glance full of something that would have looked like the Dark Side to any Jedi, but really was just plain simple excitation. The thought that the ship could blow up any second probably never once passed his mind. Impetus turned his attention out the window again, finding the shields of both the ships on the upheaval. But, when the energy was gone from the shields, the batteries would have no more power either. The Dark Tide on the other hand had a double power system, meaning they could continue firing with shields down. He would have to get one of those systems when he got out of this mess. If he got out…

So it came to that point that the Dark Tide and the Surprise had no shields left. Impetus got up a link to Enn'igma as the weapons began battering the hull of the Surprise.

"We need that shield!" He snapped. "Now!"

"Charging hull shield… and three…two…one…we have twenty percent." Impetus stood up, looking over the length of the ship. From the hull sprung an eerie glow, as if a green coat of vegetation had covered the ship.

"Does that work?" Asked Jerjerrod, staring at the ship in front of him. It looked like an enormous lawn.

"We have a new contact!" Called one of the crew.

"From where?" Asked Impetus, wondering at the same time how they were going to win if they could not shoot.

"It is coming from… the planet." The crewman said doubting. Impetus indeed saw the small shuttle coming at them in a curved path.

"Do we have enough power to at least shield it?" Asked Impetus.

"We could, yes."

"Then do it, and quickly!" Barked Impetus, impatiently drumming his fingers on the railing at the window. Said and done, the shuttle was protected by the vague remains of the shield. Due to its size, it was an easy job cloaking it. "Order the TIEs to protect it! I think… they are up to something." Jerjerrod nodded and relayed the orders. One squad formed up roughly around it. It did indeed open up two compartments on either side of it, releasing something looking like bombs. They took off in a much greater velocity than the TIE fighters.

The shuttle simply turned around and moved off towards the planet once again. The bombs on the other hand headed straight for the shuttle bays underneath and on the side of the ship.

"Recall all fighters!" Ordered Jerjerrod. Impetus simply stood still, feeling his pulse rise slightly. For fifteen seconds he, Jerjerrod and every other officer just stood and looked on how those missiles flew. Then, they passed the remains of the shields pretty quickly, flying into the bays, and sending a shockwave of explosions throughout the Dark Tide.

Jerjerrod was smiling broadly; Impetus was standing with his hands in his belt looking at how the entire ship exploded in series of reactions. He needed a drink… or ten. Behind him, the crew was silently talking, some were cheering.

"Are we to allow prisoners?" Asked Simoon via a direct link from the hangar bays. There, several escape shuttles had already arrived.

"Yes." Said Impetus, then he turned to Orm, who was sitting in the pilot's chair. "Place us in orbit some distance away, no cloaking."

"Right away." Said Orm.

"Captain, get Stunn up here. I need some rest." Jerjerrod looked at him.

"I have the bridge." He said, saluting and then turning back to the view. Impetus turned, walking across the bridge to the elevators. Only then did he realize how tired he was.

IX.

Cky turned right instead of continuing straight to his quarters. It was quite empty in these halls, as they did house neither the batteries nor any other technical equipment ready for battle. He stepped into the elevator, pushed the button and looked down into the floor. They had been lucky, he realized that.

He exited at the med-bay floor and looked around. One section, the one closest to the hull had been hit and some of the old roof had fallen down. The halls were filled with crowds of people. There were wounded people, some dead and a lot of medical staff. He moved forward, going past several rooms before coming out into a more open space. Here the doctors had hung up cloth to make small "rooms", he walked around and looked at stormtroopers and other persons that were somehow wounded. Behind one curtain he found Xalii. She was tending to a wounded sub-officer with a hack in his forehead.

She was almost done, and when she put the plaster over his head, he turned to Impetus and nodded before leaving.

"Why are you here...?" Xalii wondered.

"I don't know." He answered. "I just wanted to make sure you were allright." She turned to him.

"Why would I not be?" Impetus looked around the white cloth, pointing at the hallway that had collapsed. "Oh...!" She said. "I did not notice..."

"Well I did." He responded.

"And you came all the way down into the bowels of the ship just to find me?" She asked.

"Yes." He responded.

"You do not say much do you?"

"No."

"Allright." Xalii said and put away the pack of plasters onto the bunk, then she leaned forward, put her arms around him and kissed him. He stood quite still for the shortest of times. She looked up at him.

"I'm sorry, that was inapropriate." She said.

"Very out of regulations." He said, pulled her closer and kissed her back. Perhaps a minute went by, perhaps only a few seconds, but far too soon someone was calling for Doctor Xalii again. Impetus barely managed to straighten himself before some young medical officer barged in.

"We need your help, doctor." He looked at Impetus' sour face, said: "Sir!" Quickly and waved towards the hallway. Xalii looked over at Impetus.

"I'll give you a call when things calm down." He said. She just smiled and trotted off, her bob cut swinging as she rounded the corner. Impetus looked after her for a while, but then turned and headed back towards his quarters.

"The brown planet was an illegal mining company." Said Simoon, spinning his chair slightly. They were in the uppership lounge, evaluating the situation. "That's why all the supplyships were lost… Julstan needed to get building materials from somewhere. And the pilots made a good crew for mining, the poor fool thought they would not be missed. He simply captured them with the tractor beam while cloaked and dragged them to this system through the wormhole. We managed to stop him before he could lay waste to the green world of the Aio, which he intended to mine as well."

"Greedy bastard…" Muttered Jerjerrod under his nose.

"And he got away with it." Said Sess, glaring out the window. The dust from the ship had made a ring around the planet.

"At least he won't have this system. I do not think that he will try to do such a thing again anyway." Said Cky from the end of the table.

"What about that ship we pulled in?" Asked Sess. Simoon stirred.

"For some reason, Julstan thought that the officer we found on board could spoil his little scheme, so they erased his memory. Fortunately he somehow got away to a shuttle and stayed alive until we found him." Jerjerrod looked out. He was indeed sorry that Julstan was not spinning around together with all that junk out there.

"What about the asteroids?" He asked.

"A defence he set up in case someone came too close to the wormhole, he masked automatical turrets as asteroids and programmed them to shoot at what came through."

"I wonder why they did not fire earlier?" Wondered Sess. "It was a wonder you had time to reach the bridge in time, Admiral…" She turned to Cky, who just shrugged.

"It helps to be lucky…" He said simply, not wishing to discuss the matter anymore. They let it drop. Simoon began again:

"Now, about that mining facility…" Jerjerrod sighed to himself, but continued listening.

A few hours later Jerjerrod was on his way back to his quarters. Tired, sleepy and with an incoming headache he just wanted to get something to drink in the officers' bar and then go to bed. A lot of people were still working, but many more were either sleeping or celebrating in their local bars.

The Hideout, as the officers' bar was called for some diffuse reason was packed too. Every officer from this side of the ship was probably here, except the poor bastards at duty. Jerjerrod's mind slipped to Stunn. Carrying a smell of people and alcohol the air in the Hideout was warm. He walked up to the bar, moved some low ranking officers out of the way and sat down, ordering something to drink. The barman rushed away and soon returned with a bottle of – ship's own – Surprise beverage.

"Better than any of the other juice we've got onboard!" The barman said through the noise and music before disappearing down the bar. Jerjerrod took a sip, finding the beverage not so bad after all. He sat still for a while, lost in his thoughts before he looked around. Through the haze he could see some faces he knew, mostly deck-officers. One particular caught his eye. It was Xalii, sitting at one of the lower tables. She was laughing at something. For a moment he just looked at her, but then the person she was talking to turned around. Jerjerrod put down his drink with a *clank*.

"My eye!" He exclaimed, looked a little closer, and then turned around, carefully slipping down from the bar-stool onto the floor. As he walked towards the exit he glanced at the Admiral again, but the pair was gone. Jerjerrod muttered something under his breath and turned his steps homewards.

"His" hallway was not as quiet as he wished it to be, as people were chatting with open doors, and a smaller party was going on in the smoke room. He sighed and opened the door to his own room. When it closed everything became silent. The air condition made the room cool and comfortable and some of the headache eased away. Walking up to the table he put down the beverage and dove into the shower.

Ready, he got into his bathrobe and picked up the bottle again, trotting over to his blue armchair. He had moved it over to the window. It was a nice view over the back of the ship. Small people were bouncing over the hull followed by droids. They were repairing it after the battle.

His thoughts returned to the Admiral, who probably was having a lot more fun than he did right now. But then, he was Captain of the ship, he did whatever he liked. Jerjerrod on the other hand needed to be up in seven hours again. And all the reports he needed to write… He did not want to think about it.

When one thought about it, he was not even thirty yet… He should be out there as well, drinking his head off. But then, he did not think he had the energy for that. Taking the last sip from the bottle he put it on the floor. As the thought about his bed made a comfortable entrance through his mind he paused. Something like a hunch made him halt his steps towards the bed. Then his com-screen on the wall started pinging.

"Open link." He said. It was an unknown officer from the deck.

"Sir!" He said. "Commodore Stunn is currently unable to attend the bridge…"

"And why is that?" Asked Jerjerrod.

"He got a hit in the head during the battle; the doctors won't let him go until tomorrow."

"I'll be up in fifteen minutes." Jerjerrod grouched and turned off the screen. For a moment there he had thought about sleep… He laughed at himself. Walking over to one of his bedside drawers he took out a stimulant. It was dangerous stuff if you used it too often, but sometimes, they were needed. He pushed it into his thigh, feeling the effect immediately. In fact, the energy made him dizzy and he sat down for a while until his head cleared. After that he dressed, again, brushed his hair and put on his boots.

Finished he stepped up to the door while straightening his back, and then he exited into the hallway. As he walked down the hallway someone from the crowd gave him a sudden embrace and kiss on the cheek.

"Congratulations, sir!" She laughed and disappeared into the crowd of people again. Jerjerrod just gave up a small smile, his first in months, and continued on is way.


End file.
